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Money Slang Terms From Around The World

It seems that a few things get more attention than money. Why? Well people use money everyday – sometimes multiple times per day.

People plan where they live around money, where they travel around money, and what they eat around money. So it is no wonder why it has developed such a rich and colorful bank of slang terms to described it. In fact, in English alone there is over 80 slangs words just to describe money. So its no wonder why you made get some strange looks while abroad when you say “I’m rolling in the dough after that deal I made”.

So just for a bit of fun we decided to create some illustrations on what money slang around the world could look like to non-native speakers.

1. Germany

While you are in Germany you may often here the word “mücken” (mosquitoes) when people are talking about cash. Other ways to say cash can be “schotter”(gravel) or “kohle” (coal).

2. Australia

Australians have a colorful vocabulary for their money slang. For example a $20 note is a “red lobster”, their $5 are “pink ladies” and $10 notes are “blue swimmers”, due to the color of the notes themselves.

3. Spain

In Spain if you hear “pasta” you might think that “wow, Spanish people really love their pasta” but what they are really talking about is money! “Pasta” is one of the few money slang words that exists after the euro became the official currency in Spain.

4. Denmark

In Denmark the currency is the Krona. The Danish slang words for “hundred” and “thousand” nots are “Hundrede” shortened to “hund” (dog) and “tusind” shortened to “tudse” (toad).

5. Norway

Norway also uses the Krona as their currency, but instead they replace dogs and toads in favor of “gryn” (cereal) and “stål” (steal) to talk about their cash. Their 1,000Kr note is also called “laken” which means ‘bed sheet’.

6. United Kingdom

The British like to paint a strange picture for foreigners when using the word “Squids” to describe money.

7. United States

Americans seem to have food on their mind when it comes to money slang, as you may hear “cheddar” , “bacon”, or “dough” when talking about money.

8. Russia

In Russia you may hear several food terms for money, such as “cabbage” and “lemon”.

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